


Why is Prussia still alive?

by River_of_Dawn



Series: Hetalia Essays [2]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Essay, Gen, Historical Hetalia, Historical References, Why is Prussia still alive?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 05:52:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16804795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/River_of_Dawn/pseuds/River_of_Dawn
Summary: Who doesn't know Prussia, right?Well, almost the whole world, because Prussia was dissolved over 50 years ago.But if that's the case why is Prussia in APH still alive?





	Why is Prussia still alive?

I. Introduction  
II. Background Information  
III. He’s actually dead  
IV. He’s East Germany  
V. Prussia will rise again  
VI. The Chilean Army  
VII. Reichsbürger and Nazis  
VIII. His culture and values are alive  
IX. Conclusion

I. Introduction

So, this is me talking about how Prussia is still alive. We all know and love the awesome Prussia – but the country of Prussia was officially dissolved over fifty years ago. That hurts to hear, doesn‘t it? So we are lucky that Prussia still seems to be alive in Hetalia Axis Powers.

But how come?

First of all I want to give you some background information regarding the country itself and also in regards to the character. Afterwards I‘ll discuss the different theories I‘ve stumbled across and try to explain the how and whys of why it would or wouldn‘t work. And in the end I‘ll tell you my conclusion. Sounds good? Alright, let‘s get going.

IIa. Background Information about the country

Prussia originated 1525 in the baltic region as a Lutherian Protestant branch of the House of Hohenzollern. Later on Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg were in a personal union.  
The rise of Prussia began with the self-declared crowning of Kurfürst Friedrich the third on the 18th of January 1701. But König Friedrich the First of Prussia died leaving a dept of 20 Million Taler (the currency). His son therefore kept all prunk to the minimum and invested in an army instead. Because of this he was named the “Soldatenkönig” – the “soldiers king”. He also invested in education, making going to school mandatory and founded the first universities. Also Friedrich Wilhelm the First wanted more population and therefore a lot of people from the other Germanic and even Lithuanian states migrated to the Königreich Preußen – the Kingdom of Prussia.  
On the 31st of May 1740 his son Friedrich Wilhelm the second, later on called “Friedrich der Große”, was named king. In his first year of being king he invaded Schlesien which belonged to Austria. In the three Schlesian Wars he finally conquered Schlesien. Also Friedrich der Große – or “Frederick the Great” as he would be called in English – abolished torture, introduced free speech for the press and freedom of religion as well as being the reason why the Prussians started eating potatoes.  
I could continue to list all the following kings of Prussia and their conquests and losses, but I don’t think anybody really wants to read this now. If you do want to do so, I would suggest looking it up yourself – there is plenty of interesting information out there!

All we need to note for now, is that Prussia was a powerful kingdom by this time with a stable government, happy citizens and a lot of modern freedom. On top of that the Prussian army was also well known for being one of the best to exist. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? On top of that Prussia also supported America during the revolution. To compare: At the same time the French revolution took place…

So, what happened? If everything was perfect, what would change this?

For that we need to look at Germany at the same time. Or rather the hundreds of Germanic Kingdoms. And there we have our problem. There were people who wanted a united Germany – but whilst some kings even supported this, nobody wanted to be the German König.

And maybe the German Empire would have never come to be, without one Prussian man, Otto von Bismarck. He had an idea on how to unite Germany and a few years later the Prussian king was crowned “Deutscher Kaiser” at Versailles on the 18th of January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of the crowning of the first Prussian king).

After the German Empire was on the loosing side after the first world war they reformed with less land – loosing a big piece of Prussian landscape. Because the German Kaiser had been forced to resign, we might as well see this as the end of the House of Hohenzollern being Kings of Prussia.

The Nazi government unofficially declared in 1933 that the Freistaat Prussia didn’t exist anymore, but it was officially declared dissolved by the Allied Forces on the 25th of February 1947. But all of the Prussian land was already given to other countries, mostly East Germany (or the German Democratic Republic), Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union getting the capital of the former Prussia – Königsberg – and renaming it Kaliningrad. On top of that the Russians forced all Prussians living there to flee, most of whom went to either West or East Germany.

And this is the point where we start thinking about our awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt.

IIb. Background information about Gilbert Beilschmidt

Gilbert Beilschmidt is/was the personification of Prussia and the Deutschorden, which is basically the order that founded Prussia.

Since Prussia originated in the early part of the 15th century, we can educate a guess that he must be older then 500 years.

It is unclear as for where he got his name, since the name “Beilschmidt” isn’t mentioned in history. The name “Gilbert” is from “Giselbert” or “Gisbert” which is Germanic for “sprout”. But the more likely version for his name is the Old High German “hostage”, as well as “young man” and “famous”. (And that sounds like Gilbert, doesn’t it?)

I don’t think that I have to give you all that much information about Gilbert Beilschmidt, since you most likely already know a lot about him.

So, how about we just skip this part and get to the juicy stuff, alright?

III. Gilbert is really dead

The first part of my theory section focuses on the fact, that Gilbert might actually be dead. This theory might be true, because his land isn’t his anymore and many people (even in Germany) don’t know who he is anymore.

But on the other side there are other nations who have survived without any land to claim as theirs. (Yes, I’m looking at you, Poland.) Also we’ve seen Prussia in “Hetalia: Paint it! White” as the host of some sort of TV show in a modern day setting, which disproves the theory that he’s already dead.

Even so he might be a ghost or spirit or something like England’s friends – but that doesn’t explain why he would host a TV show.

(Also that would be boring, wouldn’t it?)

IV. Gilbert represents East Germany

I think this might be one of the most popular theories ever. But it also has a few flaws.

First of all East Germany doesn’t exist anymore. And by now all Hetalia fans who live in Germany will jump to their feet: “That’s only on the paper! There are still economic and cultural differences!” And that’s true. There are differences.

But Gilbert doesn’t really seem to represent anybody. At least not anymore. He doesn’t seem to do anything political or something like that. And whilst that might just be, because he lets his younger brother do everything that doesn’t sound like Gilbert.

Wait! If we just look at the manga and Anime it might certainly seem that way, but it goes against all Prussian values. (Well, not all…) Also he surely wouldn‘t dishonor his “Vater Fritz” or rather Frederick the Great this way. One of his character songs even mentions that he doesn’t want to disappoint the “Old Fritz”.

But otherwise it certainly seems to fit. During the cold war with Germany and Prussia on different sides of the Berlin Wall adds a sense of drama as well, doesn’t it?

So it seems, that there is no real proof as for why this wouldn‘t be the one theory to go with.

Wait! Don’t go quite yet!

V. Prussia will rise again

How to describe this best?

Ah! I’ll just use my example of Poland. No land for some time, but there were people considering themselves citizens of this country until one day there was land again.

And, yes, there are still people considering themselves Prussian. Awesome, right?!?

So, maybe one day there will be a second kingdom of Prussia and Gilbert will be the personification of this new Prussia.

VI. He’s the Chilean Army

Sounds weird, doesn’t it? Why the Chilean army? Why???

Well, actually Chile is the last country to actually uphold Prussian military marches and parades – or rather the whole military. Who would have thought?

But I don’t think that an army on it’s own would be powerful enough to keep Prussia alive – much less for such a long time already – whilst the personification lives in his brothers basement in Germany, far away from Chile.

VII. Reichsbürger and Nazis

Whilst you most likely already know what Nazis are, I think I should explain Reichsbürger.

_“Die Reichsbürgerbewegung bzw. die ihr zuzurechnenden Gruppierungen und Einzelpersonen bestreiten die Existenz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland als legitimer und souveräner Staat.”_

Or in English:

“The Reichsbürgermovement, or also the similar thinking groups and single people, deny the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany as a legitimate and sovereign country.”

This basically means, that these people think that the borders of Germany are the old ones – with Prussia as a state included.

So, it might be that Prussia represents all the old ideas. “The old Germany” if you want to say so. Whether or not this would actually include representing Nazis is anyones guess, although it is highly unlikely, especially because of Prussia being an Albino and those being frowned upon by Nazis (if you want to say it the nice way).

Him representing the Reichsbürgermovement would actually explain him not working in the government, since the Reichsbürger deny it’s existence.

This way Gilbert calling Ludwig “West” would be explained by him being the easternmost state – according to the old borders.

VIII. His culture and values are alive

This might actually be one of the most interesting theories. 

How many do actually know why the German sports uniform – mostly for football/soccer tho – is black and white? Now that I mentioned it, you might have noticed it: The colours are those from the Prussian flag – and almost nobody notices that the German flag has got no white in it (anymore)!

The Prussian school system is alive. Yes, the way the Prussians started their school system is still mostly alive in Germany. When Germans graduate at the highest level – when they graduate from the Gymnasium – they get the Abitur, which was first introduced in Prussia. Also the fact that there are three different ways of schooling – from the normal (“simple”) way all the way up to the advanced for the really bright kids (those who get the Abitur) is a Prussian system.

Also there are streets where you can see the Prussian history.

And there are the values as well.

Punctuality might be the one that is the most obvious. Germans are known for being super punctual. (Well, most of them. I gotta admit, that there are always exceptions.)

And so many more...

IX. Conclusion

Whilst we don’t know why exactly Gilbert Beilschmidt is still alive – whether it’s any of the reasons I just named, or whether he simply sticks around because he’s too stubborn – no, too AWESOME to die, who knows?

But I do have to admit that it was fun writing this and I hope you all enjoyed it. Maybe you’ve got your own ideas? Feel free to share them!


End file.
